Production equipment

Aixtron reports strong results for its recent quarter, with both revenues and profit significantly higher than last year, driven by strong demand for SiC production systems for power electronics.

Aixtron reports revenues of 19.6 million Euro (up from 6.9 million last year) for LED and microLED systems. There's a strong new momentum for microLED production systems, which accounted for 37% of the equipment order intake. This development was boosted by the continued development activities of Micro LED customers, who are continuing to invest in development and pilot lines for the commercialization of Micro LED technology.

Germany-based Singulus Technologies announced that it has adapted its modular high-vacuum sputtering TIMARIS STM system for microLED production. The first TIMARIS STM system has already been sold and delivered.

The TIMARIS platform has a modular structure and can be equipped with various process and add-on modules for a wide range of requirements. 

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a strategic partnership with Toray Engineering. As part of this collaboration, VueReal will integrate Toray's TASMIT 3000SR-Ⅲ300 PL inspection tool into its turnkey MicroSolid Printing platform. The announcement mentions several customized and optimized tools, but does not provide more details.

VueReal and Toray say that the PL inspection tool 3000SR-Ⅲ300 seamlessly integrates with VueReal's MicroSolid Printing platform to further reduce surface inspection device review time and contribute to greater inspection efficiency. This system acquires images of defects with a high level of magnification and categorizes defect types.

Toray Engineering announced a technical partnership with semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation, to promote efficient combined production systems for miniLEDs and microLED displays.

Toray Engineering will able to offer a combined inspection, transfer, and mounting systems, by data linking its systems with Advantest's inspection equipment. The company says that these integrated systems will enable the acceleration of microLED R&D and production. 

UK-based Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology announced that it has installed one of its 200 mm atomic layer deposition (ALD) passivation systems at a UK microLED provider, in order to support the customer's latest AR microdisplay development and production. The OIPT system is used to deposit high-K dielectric ultra-thin films for high-density, very high-brightness, low-power and high frame-rate RGB pixel arrays.

OIPT says that its low-damage plasma ALD technology is optimized for smaller dies with smaller active areas, and was shown in some cases by its customers at ICNS to double external quantum efficiency. 

Finland-based Comptek Solutions develops passivation technology solutions for III-V compound semiconductor materials and devices, based on its novel surface treatment process. Comptek's research leader Marjukka Tuominen will give a talk at the upcoming MicroLED-Connect startup showcase event on February 2024, and Comptek's CEO and co-founder, Vicente Calvo Alonso, was kind enough to send us a short update on the company's technology and status, and his views on the microLED industry and market.

Q: Hello Vicente, thank you for your time. Can you tell us a bit about Comptek, your technology and current status?

Comptek Solutions is an expert in passivation technology solutions for III-V compound semiconductor materials and devices. With our novel surface treatment process, KontroxTM, we are able to control how the oxidation process happens on the surface of the compound materials, and for the first time ever, we can create high quality, crystalline native oxides which are thermodynamically stable and present very low levels of surface state defects.

Poland-based inkjet printing pioneer XTPL has launched its latest printing system, the Ultra-Precise Dispensing (UPD) System that enables the printing of high-precision electronically conductive or insulating structures.

The new systems are suitable for industrial production, and XTPL is targeting the display market, and specifically the microLED display market with its new systems. For microLED developers, UPD offers the ability to deposit precise conductive interconnections, supporting the integration of the microLEDs into heterogeneous microelectronic systems. These interconnections manage control, driving, and power distribution for microLEDs, expanding potential applications in AR/VR devices, smartwatches, automotive displays, and more.

Researchers from Korea's ETRI institute developed a new chip packaging material, that is said to reduce the power consumption of the process by 95%, and reduce the number of required stages from 8 to 3. This could make semiconductors production much more efficient and lower in cost. 

The technology is applicable to all high-end semiconductor production - including microLED production. Indeed the team reports that they have reached out to several microLED developers to evaluate the technology, and the initial testing has been very positive. The material could be commercialized in three years.

Finland based Comptek Solutions announced that it has successfully closed its its Series A funding round, raising a total of 8 million Euro, from the Horizon Europe EIC Fund, LIFTT (Italian venture firm) and an undisclosed key strategic partner.

The funds will be used to accelerate Comptek's technology implementation, and scale up its growth. Comptek was founded in 2017, and develops passivation technology for Optoelectronics and power applications.

Kulicke and Soffa (K&S) announced that it is extending its long-term collaboration with surface mounting technology expert TSMT, to further enhance K&S' mini-LED and micro-LED placement solutions and get it ready for mass-volume adoption.

K&S offers its LUMINEX laser-based transfer solution, and the company now updates that it is working, together with TSMT, to enhance the yield from 99.99% to 99.999%.